Meat chopper



Aug. 20, 1935. H. JOHNSTON MEAT CHOPPER Filed May 22, 1951 INVENTOR BY I A TTORNEY 5 Patented Aug. 20, 1935 PATENT" ylofrrl c E1 1 f V MEAT CHOPPER p 7 Herbert L. Johnston, Troy, Ohio, assignorto The .Hobart Manufacturing Company,-Troy, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio c w o 22, leslgs fia 5. 539335: 'Clai n- .(Cl. 146-132) if 1 1 This invention relates to new andusefuli improvements in meat choppers, and more particularly' to that type of. chopperin which themeat is forced against a perforated plate, by means of 5 a worm operating in an internally'ribbed cylinder, and there cut'by means-of a knife revolving with said worm; such a type of chopper as is shown in my copending application Serial No.

682,688 filed"'December--26, 1923, which became Patent1 Iuniber'1,80'7;57l on Mayi26, 1931 Oneof the principal objects of the present in vention is to-pr'ovide a'chopper of thety'pfi mentionedthat will afford a maximum of safety to V the operatonand yet is simple-in construction". and affords certain economies in manufacture.

Another object is to provide such a chopper which is formed of separable parts of such size and shape as to be readily stored in a refrigerator, to make for easy cleaning and maintenance of "sanitary conditions. r

" Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the description and claim set out-below, and v the drawing. v

In the drawing, in which like characters of reference refer to similar parts Fig. 1 is a top view of the device, part of the hopper or feed pan being broken away to-better show the parts beneath;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; v

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3' 3 of Fig. 2; i V s Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the lower end of the inlet or neck, adapted for attachment to the cyl- 5 inder; and v Fig. 5 is a sectionalview, similar to Fig. 3, of

a somewhat modified form of construction.

In the embodiments of the invention shownin the drawing there isga-cylinder l0 within which a worm H is designed to rotate. A driving stud i2 is squared, or otherwise formed, at the end, to afiord means for connecting to a source of power for driving the worm. Suitable washers 13 are arranged to take the end thrust of the 45 worm. A plate i4, perforated with a plurality of openings of suitable, size, cooperates with the" tain manufacturing economies. I

tary motion in assembling.

neckthrough which the meat, or other material to ice: ground,f 'is' passed ;or .fed' into the chopper cylinder, is of such coordinated dimensions as to cross sectional area and length that j'the operator maynot. exten'd his fingers into the path of g the worm; "In' thefprese'nt"invention the inlet or neckwhichreceives thehopper, as either an integral or separable member, retains the safety features of my earlier device, 'while'being made separable to facilitate removal" for. cleaning or placing in the refrigerator, and for effecting oer-,

In':the preferred construction shown herein; a seatrl9 is formed on the cylinder to receive the .lowerend of the inlet orneck, this seat being formed to provide no extended passage, but

I being in effect flush withthe outside ofthe cylinder, thus'being quite as nearthe periphery of thewormll asthe construction will permit. To

this seat, issecured-the inlet 18 by means ofstuds ill and thumb nuts 2I orother suitable means.

The. bottom, end of theinlet l 8'is shaped substantially as shown in Fig.4, the slots 22 being designed to engage the studs 29. As shown these "slots are arcuate and-have a center of curvature lying within a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the cylinder; vAlso they snugly receive the studs 20, the inletbeing given a ro- It is obvious-that, the hopper may be quickly detached by loosening the thumb nuts 2| and giving the hopper a slight turn. The seat [9 is shown as flat, but this is not necessary as the lower. end of the inlet may be curved to conform to the curvature of the cyl- .inders; but in either event a construction is provided which makes quite awkward and 'difficulti the feeding of meat, or other stuffs, into the cylinder except the inlet be in place. This added difficulty, with the construction as shown, would beso great as practically to preclude the possibilityof an operator purposely using the chop- 1 per without the inlet being properly attached in. operative position.

However, if added certainty is desired, the construction shown in Fig. 5 may be used, "As shown there, the lower end ofthe inlet is provided with a laterally and downwardly extended ,lug'or locking portion 3!], adapted for locking coaction With a corresponding portion 3| extending laterally from the cylinder adjacent the seat 59. These two'locking extensions are provided withpassages which aline when the inlet has been rotated into operative position with the slots 22 receiving the studs 20. By then passing through these alined passages the bolt 32 of a lock, shown diagrammatically at 33, disassembly or separation of the inlet from the cylinder is prevented. so long as the lock is in position. If the owner of a store wished to make sure that the chopper could not be operated without the safety inlet being in place, he need only look it in position as shown. the diametric plane of the cylinder it may not be swung aside about one stud as a pivot while the lock is in place and because of the snug fit of the studs in the slots it may not be rocked backward about one stud as a pivot. H e H From the users point of view therefore this construction affords the desired safety. From the manufacturers point of view it permits of more simplified operations in casting or otherwise molding the cylinder with a corresponding lowering of the costs of manufacture; permits of forming the cylinder and inlet or neck of dilferent materials, or of readily giving them difierent finishes, and permits of making the cylinders in various sizes to suit the capacities required, whereas one size of inlet and hopper may suflice f r the whole series of cylinder sizes.

As shown the inlet or neck portion has the:

hopper or feed pan 23 formed integrally therewith; but, of course, this pan may be a separate part as in my aforesaid copending application.

In operation the meat or other material-to be chopped is piled up in the hopper -23. terial will have been previously cut into pieces small enough so that it will readily passdowrlwardly through the passage 24 in the inlet: or

neck. The operator then passes the "pieces through the opening 24. He can push them down into the cylinder with a feed stick which is of conventional form'and loosely fits thebore of the neck. The opening intothe cylinder through the seat is preferably made slightly larger than the opening at the bottom of the inlet passage 24, as shown at 25, to make sure that no ledge will Since the arcuate slots 22 center in This maand that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described the same, what I claim as novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

A meat grinder of the character described comprising a chopper cylinder adapted to receive a worm therein and having an inlet opening in the wall thereof, a seat portion carried by said cylinder and surrounding said opening, attaching lugs carried by said seat portion, a separable inlet having a passage therethrough for the feeding of meat or the like into the cylinder, the lower end of said inlet being formed to receive saidseat member and having attaching lugs with arcuate slots therein adapted to receive'the attaching lugs of the seat-member for attaching said inlet inoperative position with the passage therethrough in alignment with the opening in the cylinder wall, each arcuate slot having a center of curvature lying substantially within the vertical axis ofthe inlet opening, said inlet passage being so restricted as to cross-sectional area and of such proportions as to length and crosssectional area as to prevent the operator from extending his fingers into contact with the worm, and locking means for preventing rotational movement of said inlet about the vertical axis of said inlet opening.

- HERBERT L. JOHNSTON. 

